bearing a flower each. Style witb two long, exserted stigmas, swollen and villous at the base. Ntd not seen.—
P late CXLI. A. Fig. 1, spikelet; 2, scale and flower; 3, pistil:—aZ? magnified.
S. C h æ t o s p o r a n i t e n s (Br. Prodr. 233) ; rhizomate repente, culmis nudis teretiusculis sulcatis
basi foliatis, spiculis congestis lateralibus, squamis subdistichis obtusis nitidis, setis hypogynis basi plumosis,
nuce trigona lævi mutica.—FL N. Zeal. i. 27-1-. {Gmn, 972, 572, in Herb. Lindl.)
H a b . Sand-hills near Georgetown, Gunn.— (FI. Dec.)
D is t e ib . Extratropical Australia, from New South Wales to Swan Hiver; New Zealand.
A sleniler, rigid, wiry, perfectly glabrous plant, 2-12 inches high. Rhizomes creeping; bases of culms and
leaves covered with appressed, black-brown, sliining scales. Leaves slender, erect, semiterete, deeply grooved in
front. Spikelets two to eight, fascicled, sessile, about au inch below the erect, subulate apex of the culm, 4 -4
inch long, turgid, of four to six broadly ovate, blunt, shining cliesnut-bvown, nerveless, smooth scales. Nut pale-
brown, smooth, with six short, plumose, hypogynous bristles.—Brown places this in a section by itself, characterized
by the scales being imbricated all round; but they ai-e truly distichous in all my numerous specimens,
though less regularly and manifestly so than in the other species.
4. Chætospora imherbis (Br. Prodr. 233) ; culmis cæspitosis erectis foliatis foliis subæquilongis,
spiculis paniculatim. fasciculatis axillaribus terininalibusque 2-4-floris, fasciculis bractea foliácea elongata
subtensis, pedicellis squamarumque carina scaberulis, setis bypogynis brevibus scaberulis, nuce trigona alba
obovata striatim clatbrata, stylo basi simplici persistente.—FL N. Zeal. i. 274. C. tenuissima, Steud. PL
Glum. 162.
Var. a ; culmo sub-6-pollicari, bractearum vaginis castaueis nitidis ^-pollicatibus, spiculis plurimis
lanceolatis brunneis.
V a r./3 ; culmo 2 - 3 -pollicari, bractearum vaginis brevibus rufis, fasciculis spicularum solitariis {spiculis
interdum solitariis) spiculis brevioribus pallidioribus. {Gunn, 1417.)
Var. 7 ; culmo 3-4-pollicari, foliis capillaribus, bractearum vagina brevi castanea limbo abbreviato,
spiculis paucis parvis atro-castaneis. {Gunn, 1494, 581, 976.)
Var. B; culmis pedalibus fiaccidis foliisque gracillimis, bracteis vagina brevi pallida, spiculis pallidis.
{Gunn, 1391.)
H a b . All tbe varieties very abundant in various soils and situations throughout tbe Island. Var. 7 ,
iu water or marshes.— (Fl. all the year.) {v. v.)
D is t k ib . New South Wales, Victoria, New Zealand.
This common and variable plant is always easily recognized by its tufted, erect, leafy culms, bearing sliortly-
pedicelled fascicles of lanceolate, compi-essed, small spikelets, which spring from the axils of a long, patent, bracteal
leaf : it varies from 1 inch to a foot liigh, is of a soft texture, and of a green, grassy Leaves numerous at the
base of the culm, longer or shorter than the culm, concave in front, convex at the back. Sheaths of the bracts or
leaves on the culms long or short, from deep chesnut-brown to bright-red. Fascicles of spikelets suhpaiiicled, few
or many, generally from the two uppermost rather distant axillæ. Spikelets usually three or six in each axil, rarely
solitaiy, on long or short scabrid pedicels, lanceolate, compressed, 4 - 4 inch long. Scales variable in colour, witli
usually a green, scabrid keel, smooth, dai'k-brown sides, and rather acuminate, paler apex; the lowermost scales
vaiy from being acute to acuminate, and even shortly aristate. Flowers two to four. Setæ bristle-shaped, hispid.
Nut white, short, broadly obovate, trigonous, gi-ooved, the grooves with a longitudinal scries of pits. Style rather
persistent, neither swollen nor jointed on to the nut.—This is probably the C. tenuissima, Steud. (Syn, Plant. Glum,
etc., p. 162), which is said to have been gathered at “ Bobat Town” (Hobarton?).
5. Chætospora a x illa r is (Br. Prodr. 23 3 ); culmis cæspitosis prostratis foliosis subramosis, foliis
distichis brevibus planiusculis, spiculis axillaribus solitariis binisve 2-3-iloris, squamis glaberrimis paucis
distichis acutiusculis, setis hypogynis sub-6, nuce late elliptico-ovata trigona lævi alba stylo basi nou
incrassato persistente terminata.— FL N. Zeal. i. 274. t. 62 A. C. muiaroides, Muell. in Herb. Hook.
Ilelothrix pusilla, Nees, in Ann. and Mag. Nat. Hist. vi. 457. {Gunn, 974.)
IIab. Marshy places near Penquite, Gunn, and probably common elsewhere ia the Colony.— (Fl. Dec.)
D is t e ib . New South Wales: Alps of Victoria, Mueller ; Swan River, Drummond; New Zealand.
Culms prostrate, rooting at the base, slender, laxly tufted, 2-5 inches long, sparingly branched, compressed.
Leaves alternate, patent, distichous, 1-2 inches long, concave above, with grooved, convex backs. Spikelets much
smaller than in C. imberbis, axillary, sobtary or two together, pedicelled or almost sessile, pale, about *nch
long, of four or six compressed, smooth, nerveless, ovate-lanceolate, subacute scales. Hypogynous bristles sliort,
scabrid. Nut white, smooth, broacUy elliptical-ovate, trigonous, with a persistent style.
Gen. IV. GYMNOSCHOENUS, Nees.
Spicula in capitulum terminale late bracteatum densissime congestæ, breves, l-2-floræ; squamis
disticbis, extimis minoribus, vacuis. Seta hypogynæ 3, filiformes. Stylus 3-fidus, basi pubescens.—Herbæ
rigida, robusia; culmis erectis, caspitosis, radieibus ci-assis; foliis omnibus radicalibus, rigidis, coriaceis,
lineari-elongatis, curvis ; capitulo magno, spharico ; spiculis rachi incrassata sessilibus.
There are two described species of this genus, both South-eastern Australian. They have the technical characters
of the spikelets and fiowers of Schozmis, but difi'cr so remarkably in habit and inflorescence from that genus,
that there can be no doubt as to the propriety of keeping them distinct from it. G. spliarocephalus consists of a
dense mass of tall, very rigid, tufted, smooth, ]iolisbed culms and leaves, 2-3 feet high. Old plants form short
caudices a foot high, from the summit of which the culms and leaves spread in aU directions.—Rhizome very
stout, sending down thick, tortuous fibres, as stout as a small quill. Base of the culm as thick as the little finger,
covered witb dark-brown, grooved, coriaceous leaf-sheaths, 2-3 inches long, whose margins are more or less woolly.
Leaves a foot or more long, much longer thau the culm, tortuous, rigid, narrow-linear, 4 inch broad, convex, not
grooved at the back, broadly concave in front. Scape or culm 3-5 feet long, compressed, perfectly smootli, rigid,
solid, not jointed and naked. Capitulum inch in diameter, perfectly glabrous, of very numerous, short, sessile
spikelets, set round a central, thickened axis. Bracts coriaceous, very broadly rounded, ovate, three or five at the
base of the capitulum, and three or four placed amongst the spikelets ; one or two sometimes bearing a short, flat,
blunt lamina. Spikelets hard, radiating, 4 inch long, of five or six very coriaceous, yellowish scales, with brown-
black margins and apices, distichous, but rather obscurely so; outer scales short, more membranous, quadrate,
bifid, with broader membranous margins, truncate ; inner broadly ovate, I'eiy concave, obscurely keeled, smooth,
not nerved. Siamens three, with short filaments, and large, broad, mucronate antliers. Style witli a long, conical,
pubescent base, jointed? on the ovary, which is elongate. Stigmas thi'ee. Hypogynous bristles three, scabrous,
very slender. (Name from yv^vos, naked, aud o-Xoivos, a Rush ; in allusion to the long leafless culms ?)
1. Gymnoschcenus sphærocephalus (Hook, fil.); foliorum vaginis lanatis, culmis compressis,
capitulo globoso teriiiiiiali, bracteis cura spiculis iramixtis iis æquilongis late orbicularis ovatisve obtusis,
spiculis biiioris.—G. adustus, Nees, in Ann. Nat. Hist. \ i .p . 47. Chætospora spliærocephala, Br. Prodr.
233. Xyris lævis, Sieber, 204 {non Br.). {Gunn, 952.) (T a b . CXLII.)
I I ab. Abundant in marshes, in the poorest soil, in luany parts of the Island : Lake St. Clair, and
thence to Macquarrie Harbour; Circular Head, etc., Gunn.— (Fl. Nov.-Jan.)
D istr ib . New South AYales and Victoria,
P late CXLil, Fig. 1, spikelet; 2, bract; 3, scales of spikelet; 4, stamen; 5, pistil:—all magnified.
Gen. V. CHORlZANDllA, Br.
Spicula in capitulum laterale bracteatum densissime congestæ, late obovatæ, compressæ, multilloræ;